Posts Tagged ‘scientific research’
Cigarette Smoking Enhances Endurance- The dangers of narrowing focus
If I had to pinpoint one skill that I’m good at in an academic setting, it’s that of coalescing information. I love the feeling of sifting through all of the academic research available, making sense of it, and then connecting it to the practical world. The feeling of connecting disparate ideas is something that I’ll…
Read MoreSciencyness- The problem with using science to justify what you’re doing…
The heavy breathing, as I found my seat on the plane, must have seemed like an appropriate invitation to start a conversation, as the man sitting behind me quipped “Did you run the marathon today?” It was an appropriate question, given that I was on my way back from the race, although the breathing was…
Read MoreThe Sub 2hr marathon- Why Coaches and Scientists don’t understand each other.
This past week at UH I had the pleasure of sitting in on a talk by Dr. Ed Coyle on ‘how fast could we run a marathon.’ Coyle is a well-established researcher, but he’s most well known for his infamous research on Lance Armstrong that showed improved efficiency over his career. Coyle still maintains the…
Read MoreThe Placebo Response- belief, expectations, and why it matters in the world of sport
The Placebo Response. Just say the words and you generally get a negative response. People think of a placebo as some no good trick used by devious people to deceive some unsuspecting innocent person. It’s accepted in the medicine and research world as a way to test true effects of a substance or intervention versus…
Read MorePresentations: Training and How to Apply Science to Coaching
Over the past week, I had the privilege to speak at two different clinics/conferences that both presented unique challenges. I told everyone I would put my powerpoints online, and I hope that you guys who read the blog can get something good out of them too. The first clinic I had a chance to speak…
Read MoreResearch Galore!- Summary of 2013 ACSM research
Each year for the biggest sports science conferences, I try and go through all of the abstracts being presented. It’s the second best option, since attending isn’t an option due to my schedule. Besides seeing the new research that is out there, you get to notice trends. It gives you a good idea on where…
Read MoreA bunch of Scientific research from ACSM conference
Last week was the big American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting. I wasn’t in attendance as I was at the Prefontaine classic. So instead I had the pleasure of browsing through the 3,500+ abstracts that were presented at the conference. There were a lot of interesting studies to pop up, so I figured I’d…
Read MoreMeasuring Galvanic Skin Response….say what?
Galvanic Skin Response….say what? If you read letsrun.com and look up anything about me I’ll be branded as some science only nut who relies on too much science and forgets the “old school” way. If you were at my coaching presentation the Distance Summit put on at Queens University, after my “science” presentation you would…
Read MoreHow to spot bad science and fads- Determining whether an idea is worthwhile:
This is a blog straight from email requests. It’s not exactly about training, but one of the most frequent and perhaps most important question I get asked is how the heck do you spot the good stuff from the crap… A while back I read the book Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks,…
Read MoreHydration- A lesson in interpretation
I’ve used the example of hydration during running to demonstrate the natural cycle of under/over emphasizing until we kind of naturally move towards the sweet spot. What I’d like to do now is use hydration as a way to show error in interpretation. When we rely on scientific data, we tend to look at the…
Read More